What is the official status of Puerto Rico with the US?

Answer 1

Puerto Rican Americans or Baricua, as they call themselves, are originally from the island of Borinquén, subsequently called Puerto Rico, the native inhabitants are the Taino Indians, and they are Spanish and or English speaking. The island was seized by the United States in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. The value of Puerto Rico for the United States, as it was mainly its strategic location, which was advantageous for maritime trade. All power was given to the officials appointed by the president, and any act of the island's legislature could be overruled by Congress. Even the spelling was changed briefly to Porto Rico to suit North American pronunciation. English, previously unknown on the island, became the only language permitted in the school systems. The people were colonized- first politically, then culturally, and finally economically. Citizenship was extended to Puerto Ricans by the Jones Act of 1917, but Puerto Rico remained a colony. This political dependence altered in 1948, when Puerto Rico elected its own governor and became a commonwealth. Puerto Ricans are United States citizens and elect their own governor, they may not vote in presidential elections and have no voting representation in Congress.

Answer 2

Under both International law and the US Constitution Puerto Rico is a US Territory and that is how the US Supreme Court sees it.

United States colonyOn July 25, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States with a landing at Guánica. As an outcome of the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, the Philippines, and Guam to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris.

The United States and Puerto Rico thus began a long-standing relationship. Puerto Rico began the 20th century under the military rule of the U.S. with officials, including the governor, appointed by the President of the United States. The Foraker Act of 1900 gave Puerto Rico a certain amount of civilian popular government, including a popularly elected House of Representatives, also a judicial system following the American legal system that includes both state courts and federal courts establishing a Puerto Rico Supreme Court and an United State District Court; and a non-voting member of Congress, by the title of "Resident Commissioner. In 1917, "Puerto Ricans were collectively made U.S. citizens" via the Jones Act. The same Act also provided for a popularly elected Senate to complete a bicameral Legislative Assembly, a bill of rights and authorized the election of a Resident Commissioner to a four year term. As a result of their new U.S. citizenship, many Puerto Ricans were drafted into World War I and all subsequent wars with U.S. participation in which a national military draft was in effect.

CommonwealthIn 1947, the U.S. granted Puerto Ricans the right to elect democratically their own governor. Luis Muñoz Marín was elected during the 1948 general elections, becoming the first popularly elected governor of Puerto Rico. In 1950, the U.S. Congress approved Public Law 600 (P.L. 81-600) which allowed for a democratic referendum in Puerto Rico to determine whether Puerto Ricans desired to draft their own local constitution. This Act left unchanged all the articles under the Jones Act of 1917 that regulated the relationships between Puerto Rico and the United States.

On October 30, 1950, Pedro Albizu Campos and other nationalists led a 3-day revolt against the United States in various cities and towns of Puerto Rico. The most notable occurred in Jayuya and Utuado. In the Jayuya revolt, known as the Jayuya Uprising, the United States declared martial law and attacked Jayuya with infantry, artillery and bombers. The Utuado Uprising culminated in what is known as the Utuado massacre. On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Harry S Truman. Torresola was killed during the attack, but Collazo was captured. Collazo served 29 years in a federal prison, being released in 1979. Don Pedro Albizu Campos also served many years in a federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia, for seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government in Puerto Rico.

The Constitution of Puerto Rico was approved by a Constitutional Convention on February 6, 1952, ratified by the U.S. Congress, approved by President Truman on July 3 of that year, and proclaimed by Gov. Muñoz Marín on July 25, 1952, on the anniversary of the arrival of U.S. troops to Puerto Rico in 1898, until then an annual Puerto Rico holiday. Puerto Rico adopted the name of Estado Libre Asociado (literally translated as "Free Associated State"), officially translated into English as Commonwealth, for its body politic. The United States Congress legislates over many fundamental aspects of Puerto Rican life, including citizenship, currency, postal service, foreign affairs, military defense, communications, labor relations, the environment, commerce, finance, health and welfare, and many others.

During the 1950s Puerto Rico experienced rapid industrialization, due in large part to Operación Manos a la Obra ("Operation Bootstrap"), an offshoot of FDR's New Deal, which aimed to transform Puerto Rico's economy from agriculture-based to manufacturing-based. Presently, Puerto Rico has become a major tourist destination, and it is the world's leading pharmaceutical manufacturing center. Yet it still struggles to define its political status. Three plebiscites have been held in recent decades to resolve the political status but no changes have been attained. Support for the pro-statehood party, Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP), and the pro-commonwealth party, Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), remains about equal. The only registered pro-independence party, the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP), usually receives 3-5% of the electoral votes.

Answer 3

Puerto Rico is currently an unincorporated territory of the United States as allowed for under the territorial clause of the Constitution of the United States. Puerto Rico holds the status of Free Associated Commonweath of the United States of America.

On November 6, 2012 a Plebiscite was held where the electorate of Puerto Rico choose to whether to remain as they are ("Status Quo") or to seek another political status. Puerto Ricans that chose to seek another status were then given three choices: Independence, Statehood, or Free Association similar to that of The Marshall Islands and other former US Territories in the Pacific. The electorate chose to seek another political status and statehood was by far the most popular of the three choices given.

This plebiscite is a non-binding referendum therefore it is now up to the Puerto Rican legislature and governor to pursue any action. Nothing is really likely to change in the foreseeable future.

Answer 4

Puerto Rico is a Free Associated Commonwealth of the United States of America. It is an Unincorporated Territory of the United States governed under the authority of the Territorial Clause in the Constitution of the United States and granted limited autonomy and self-government by the United States Congress.

Answer 5

It remains a US Teritory.